Beautiful, stunning, magnificent. There are a million ways to describe Rome, the Eternal city.

Centuries of history, arts and social changes have contributed to building what is today the busy city of Rome.

But wait! This is not just a city, it is an open door museum. And it is very much worth to discover every little corner, every square, every fountain, every palace. That is how you will deeply understand the never-ending cultural features the city has developed.

Today you will join a Vatican City tour – well, not just A tour – this is my special Vatican Tour Rome. A tour that lets you learn about the religious history of Rome and the true meaning behind all artworks.

Not only that: with this tour you will get to skip the lines and enjoy every masterpiece in the Vatican state in just a day!

Pope Francis has dismissed a question about whether condoms can be condoned in the fight against Aids by saying there are more important issues confronting the world, like malnutrition, environmental exploitation and the lack of safe drinking water.

Francis was asked about the church’s opposition to condoms while returning Monday to Rome from Kenya, Uganda and the Central Africa Republic, Africa in general and Kenya and Uganda in particular have been hard hit by the Aids epidemic, and the Catholic church has faced criticism that its position has contributed to the problem.

Francis’s predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, earned the wrath of healthcare professionals, gay rights activists and the United Nations by saying on a visit to Africa that condoms were not the answer to fighting HIV and could actually make it worse.

Francis has made scant reference to Aids in his speeches this past week. He did, however, visit HIV-infected children at a Uganda hospital and kissed each one, listened to moving testimony from a girl born with the virus and thanked the church’s healthcare workers for caring for those infected.

A clearly irked Francis criticized the question directed at him during his in-flight press conference about whether the church should change its position on condoms to limit HIV’s spread. He said it “seems too small, partial”, when there are bigger issues confronting humanity.

“I don’t like getting into questions or reflections that are so technical when people die because they don’t have water or food or housing,” he said.

He said when those problems are taken care of, questions like condoms and Aids can be addressed.

Francis has previously signalled that he doesn’t want to get drawn into culture war issues over contraception or abortion, and his response Monday was very much in line with such comments.

Francis was euphoric, though, about his first trip to Africa, saying he was constantly surprised by the continent and the ability of its people to find joy with so little.

He denounced how Africa has constantly been exploited by foreign powers, citing the slave trade and those who “only look to take Africa’s riches”.

“Africa is a martyr. It’s a martyr of exploitation over history,” he said. “I love Africa for this.”

Catholic order’s British leader, Matthew Festing, had been in conflict wiht liberalising pontiff over charity project

The head of the Knights of Malta, an ancient Catholic order, has resigned over a dispute with the Vatican about free condoms that has become a battle of wills between the heads of two of the world’s oldest institutions and a test of Pope Francis’s authority.

The Rome-based chivalric and charity institution said Grand Master Matthew Festing, 67, resigned after the pope asked him to step down on Tuesday. Grand masters of the institution, which was founded in the 11th century, usually hold their posts for life.

“The pope asked him to resign and he agreed,” the order’s spokesperson said, adding that the group’s sovereign council would sign off on the highly unusual resignation within days.

Confirming Festing’s departure, the Vatican said Francis had “expressed his appreciation and recognition for [Festing’s] loyalty and devotion to the successor to St Peter [the pope] and his readiness to humbly act in the interests of the Order and the Church”.

Ludwig Hoffmann-Rumerstein will act as the order’s interim Grand Master until an election can take place.

The Vatican said it was taking the unusual step of appointing a pontifical delegate to the order – a move seen by some as an attempt to curb its conservative faction.

Festing and the Vatican have been locked in a dispute since early December, when one of the order’s top officials, Grand Chancellor Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager, was sacked after the charity distributed condoms as part of a project for the poor.

Von Boeselager and his supporters claimed the condom issue was an excuse by Festing and the papal envoy to the order, Cardinal Raymond Burke – an American arch-conservative who has accused the pope of being too liberal – to increase their power.

Some Vatican observers have seen the Knights of Malta drama as a proxy battle between Francis and Burke. The US cardinal has been outspoken in his criticism of the pope’s efforts to reform Catholic teaching on the family, marriage and divorce. He was one of four cardinals who signed an open letter to Francis last year questioning new guidance allowing priests to decide whether divorced and remarried believers should be able to receive communion.

After Von Boeselager was sacked by Festing, he appealed to the pope, who appointed a five-member commission to look into the unusual circumstances of the dismissal.

Festing, a Briton who has been grand master for nine years and is seen as a conservative, refused to cooperate, saying the papal commission was an illegitimate intervention in the order’s sovereign affairs. He established his own internal inquiry.

The Vatican, in turn, rejected what it said was an attempt to discredit members of the commission and ordered the leaders of the institution to cooperate with the papal commission, which was due to deliver its findings in the next week.

“Behind this dispute is an internal struggle within the Knights between reformers who want the order to focus on humanitarian work and a traditionalist clique out of step with Francis,” said Austen Ivereigh, the pope’s biographer.

“Historically, the Knights have mixed ecclesiastical policy and high finance in a way which is repugnant to Francis. He is naturally inclined to support the reformers, and seized the opportunity to encourage them.”

Andrew Chesnut, professor of Catholic studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, said the row could be “read as a proxy battle between Burke and Pope Francis. Writ large, it’s really about the reformist vision of Francis versus the arch conservative old guard-ism of Burke.”

He added: “The Vatican hierarchy tends to be more conservative than the laity in general, but Francis has the backing of the vast majority of parishioners – he’s still wildly popular, he has momentum.” For now, Francis had reasserted his authority, “but only time will tell how far his reform project can be pushed.”

The all-male leaders of the Knights of Malta take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to the pope. The institution has 13,500 members, 25,000 employees and 80,000 volunteers worldwide.

The order – formed in the 11th century to provide protection and medical care for pilgrims to the Holy Land – maintains diplomatic relations with more than 100 states and the EU, and permanent observer status at the United Nations.

When Festing fired Von Boeselager, he accused the German of concealing his authorisation of the use of condoms when he ran Malteser International, the order’s humanitarian aid agency.

The church forbids the use of condoms as a means of birth control and says abstinence and monogamy in heterosexual marriage is the best way to control the spread of Aids.

Von Boeselager said he closed two projects in the developing world when he discovered condoms were being distributed, but kept a third running for a while because closing it would have abruptly ended basic medical services to the poor.

Francis has said he wants the 1.2 billion-member church to avoid so-called culture wars over moral teachings and show mercy to those who cannot live by all its rules, especially the poor.

Tens of thousands of worshippers gathered at the Vatican on Sunday to hear Pope Francis address the world’s Christians, as Europe marked Christmas under ramped-up security after the Berlin attack.

The leader of 1.2 billion Catholics deplored violence around the globe as he gave his fourth “Urbi et Orbi” (To the City and The World) Christmas message from the balcony of Saint Peter’s Basilica.

The 80-year-old Argentine called for guns to fall silent in Syria, saying “far too much blood has been spilled” in the nearly six-year conflict.

And he urged Israelis and Palestinians to “have the courage and the determination to write a new page of history” in his message from the balcony of Saint Peter’s Basilica to a crowd of 40,000 gathered in the square below which, despite the sunny weather, was far from full.

Religious leaders from the Vatican to Bethlehem struck a sombre note on Christmas Eve, warning that war, fear and divisions lie ahead in 2017 after a tumultuous year.

As Europe ramped up security for the holiday just days after the truck attack that left 12 dead at a Berlin Christmas market, the pontiff said he hoped for “peace to those who have lost a person dear to them as a result of brutal acts of terrorism”.

The attack was claimed by the Islamic State group.

In Milan, where suspected Berlin attacker Anis Amri was killed in a police shootout on Friday, there was a heavy police presence around the cathedral.

The entrance has been protected by concrete barriers since the Berlin attack.

Locals and tourists alike however are still visiting the German capital’s Breitscheidplatz market, with many stopping to light a candle or lay flowers for the victims.

(ANSA) – Vatican City, December 21 – Pope Francis in his general audience on Wednesday said that Bethlehem was chosen as Jesus’s birthplace because it’s “not a capital, and therefore preferred by divine providence, which likes to act through the small and the humble”.
He said that, in its simplicity, the Christmas crib sends a message of hope.
“That’s why it’s important to look at the Christmas crib, to stop a bit and see how much hope there is in these people,” Pope Francis said.

(ANSA) – Bari, December 27 – The local chapter of the Catholic Action (AC) group on Tuesday voiced support for a Puglia priest at the centre of a row over his unsuccessful bid to hold a memorial Mass for a Canadian ‘Ndrangheta mafia boss killed in Quebec in May.
AC said it was “close” to Father Michele Delle Foglie, slammed for trying to pay homage to boss Rocco Sollecito, and urged its members to remember him and the small community of Grumo Appula in their prayers.